OTTAWA—A little less than a year ago, the folks who run the Ottawa Senators had a brain wave.

They decided they were fed up with watching fans of the hated Toronto Maple Leafs invade their arena. They were tired of the blue-and-white-clad interlopers booing Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson in his own building. And, oh, did they have a plan to stop it.

The club appealed to season-ticket holders to refrain from allowing tickets “to get into the hands of fans for our rivals.” It vowed to “Take Back The Bank” — a reference to the venue then known as Scotiabank Place.

How goes the effort? It’s working so well that on Saturday night the Senators rink, since renamed Canadian Tire Centre, was predictably awash in Leafs jerseys.

To some experienced observers of the Battle of Ontario, the throng of Toronto supporters might have been the biggest in recent memory. And if the blue-and-white interlopers no longer had the departed-for-Detroit Alfredsson to harass, they loudly confirmed an age-old Canadian truth: Leafs Nation is everywhere, and it cannot be discouraged.

As for the Leafs players? They won their second straight game, 4-3 in a shootout, albeit in unnecessarily eventful fashion while surrendering 50 shots on goal for the second consecutive contest.

Seemingly en route to just their third regulation-time victory in 16 games after carving out a 3-1 lead after two periods, the Leafs implemented the non-aggressive (and largely ineffective) defensive shell that has brought them trouble more than once in the recent past. Outshot 14-7 in the third period, the Leafs surrendered a pair of goals and were forced to the scoreless extra frame.

James van Riemsdyk and Mason Raymond scored the only two goals in the shootout to win it. James Reimer won his seventh game in seven career starts in Ottawa.

“When we get a lead, we freeze,” said Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle. “But we found a way to win and that’s the most important thing. We’ve had some pretty down times here prior to the last two games, so no matter how we get the points, we’re going to take them and move on.”

The Senators, who’d lost seven of their previous 10 games, are struggling through a comedown season in the wake of a lockout-truncated campaign that saw them surprise as an overachieving playoff team.

At times, the home team looked every bit as incoherent as their recent win-loss record would have suggested. Though the Leafs were outshot for the 27th time in 30 games, they controlled the play for long stretches.

Van Riemsdyk, who finished with a goal and two assists in addition to his slick backhand maker in the shootout, gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead before the game was two minutes old. A Dion Phaneuf point shot produced a juicy Craig Anderson rebound that was tapped by Nazem Kadri onto the waiting stick of the scorer. Midway through the first period, the Senators tied it up on a power play, ex-Leaf Clarke MacArthur beating Reimer through the five hole from the high slot.

And after the Leafs saw their lead balloon to 3-1 midway through the second period after Phil Kessel and Jake Gardiner potted goals — the latter just the fourth by a Leafs defenceman this season — the Senators appeared both blase and beaten.

But the home team found some life in the third period, especially after Colin Greening beat Gardiner to a puck in the Toronto zone and quickly fed Erik Condra, who scored from the high slot to make it 3-2. Midway though the final frame, the Leafs took a penalty for too many men on the ice, granting the Senators their eighth power play of the evening, and soon enough, Erik Karlsson tied it 3-3.

Carlyle called that goal one of two Ottawa power-play markers that the Leafs “should have had coverage on.”

It wasn’t the first time the Leafs had squandered good work this season. Ten nights previous, they’d opened up a 4-1 lead in Pittsburgh only to lose 6-5 in a shootout.

“We stopped skating. We stopped forechecking. We stopped playing,” Carlyle summarized in the wake of that fold-up.

All of those things happened for stretches late Saturday night. When the Leafs weren’t battling poor discipline, they continued to battle the injury bug. Joffrey Lupul, who missed his sixth straight game with a groin tear, did not make the trip and is not expected to play in Sunday night’s home game against the Bruins.

Lineup tinkering also continued. John-Michael Liles made his Leafs debut this season after being called up from the Marlies; Carlyle gave his turn as a puck-moving defenceman the thumbs up. The presence of Liles, who earns $4.25 million (U.S.) a season, meant that 19-year-old defenceman Morgan Rielly missed his second straight game as a healthy scratch. Fellow blueliner Paul Ranger also did not dress.

No matter the personnel swap, the Leafs defensive corps was guilty of more than a few missed coverages, and it fell on Reimer to bail them out.

“Tonight I felt really good,” Reimer said. “Honestly, whether the potatoes were good here or whatnot, I had a lot of energy ... There was a lot of blue out there. It’s always a phenomenal atmosphere here. It’s one of my favourite places to play.”

At times, especially when the Leafs went ahead, the Senators fans seemed dispirited, not to mention outnumbered. At the very least, they were out-hollered.

Chants of “Go Leafs Go!” overpowered any other vocal offerings. When the PA announcer noted that the night’s attendance was 19,559, he offered a note of gratitude: “Thank you, Sens Army,” he said.

There was no extension of appreciation to the fans of the rivals who’d graciously swarmed the concourses and filled the cash registers as they drained the beer taps. There was also no taking back of the Bank, no retaking of the Tire. Leafs Nation is everywhere, and it was certainly here on Saturday night.

The Leafs’ killer instinct? Not so much.

But Carlyle, for one, did not want to be seen as quibbling.

“We’ll take the wins,” he said, “no matter how they come.”

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